If You Want to Sell Your Home Quickly and for the Best Price
It’s every vendor’s goal to sell their home quickly and for the best price, but sometimes a vendor’s eagerness to sell their home can lead them to make costly mistakes. I have worked in the industry for over a decade and repeatedly hear stories from vendors who have made poor choices in the past. I’ve also heard many others from colleagues.
To help you avoid some of the same mistakes other vendors have made in the past, I’ve compiled a list of five of the most common mistakes that new and over-eager vendors sometimes make, and how you can avoid making them yourself.
- Appointing the wrong agent. Don’t (and I can not stress this enough, just do not) hire an agent just because they have the lowest fees and commissions or because they quote you the highest sales price for your home. Both are indicators that the agent may be acting in their own best interests rather than yours. Select an agent based on their local area knowledge, previous sales record, and the approach that best suits your circumstances.
- Overpricing your property. It’s true that there’s a well-worn cliche that runs along the lines that you should always price something higher to give yourself room to negotiate down to the price you really want. Yes there may be certain, in my opinion, limited, instances when this will work, but it’s not in real estate. A property that is overpriced will spend more time on the market and draw fewer interested buyers to your inspections than one priced more accurately. The longer your property sits on the market, the greater the message it sends that the property is overpriced which further deters prospective buyers. A good sales agent will use their extensive market knowledge, along with their experience selling in your local area, to price your property appropriately.
- Not preparing your home for sale. This may seem fairly obvious, but it’s still one of the first pieces of advice I give to vendors when they list their home with me. Clear your home of any clutter that buyers may find uninviting. Prospective buyers always imagine themselves living in your home, and that’s hard to do if every spare corner features photos of the kids, or there are boxes around from where you’ve already started packing up. This can be particularly problematic for vendors selling a home that’s currently tenanted, which is why I’ve written about how to sell a property when it’s occupied by tenants.
- Ignoring repairs. This follows on from the previous point — and it’s equally important. If your intention is to sell a fixer-upper to people at a fixer-upper price, then market your home that way. If that is not your intention and you’re marketing your home as one that people can buy and move straight into, then you will need to fix any of those maintenance issues that require attention. This includes broken balustrades, dodgy pipes and broken roof tiles.
- Trying to sell your home yourself. Obviously, my advice comes with some degree of bias, but I happen to be a real estate agent because I derive great enjoyment from helping people to buy and sell property. Some vendors make the mistake of thinking that they can save money by selling their home themselves, but it almost always comes at a cost. As a private seller, you don’t have access to a pre-qualified database of potential buyers, nor do you have access to marketing and advertising at the discounted rate that agents do. As a result, most private sales are unsuccessful, while those that are successful usually spend more time on the market and sell for a lower price than would have been achieved with an agent.
If you would like more information on buying or selling property, you can continue to read my blog or subscribe to my series of educational videos for buyers and vendors. These videos were created to help my clients understand the various aspects of selling property in Sydney’s Lower North Shore that I go through every day. Some of the areas I work in include Cremorne, Cammeray, Naremburn and Mosman. Alternatively, you can request a proposal from me at my website or just call me on 0402 724 393.
